Maoist cadre have obstructed the delivery of food shipments in Far and Mid-Western Nepal since Thursday, the World Food Programme has said.
The suppliers stopped transporting food shipments across Nepal in the wake of nationwide anti-government demonstration on 1 May followed by an indefinite strike the next day.
In an anticipation of general strike, transporters and truck drivers are unwilling to transport WFP food items for the fear that they might be physically assaulted and their trucks vandalised or torched, WFP said.
In some cases transporters have faced payment demands in order to pass safely. Eight trucks that was ferrying WFP food from Attariya to Dadeldhura were asked to pay Rs 5,000 rupees per truck. The eight trucks were allowed to move forward only after they paid a donation of Rs1,000 each. Another 15 trucks were allowed to move after paying Rs 500 each along the same route.
WFP has said road transportation is a critical part of its operation in Nepal, and it provides food and development support to over 2 million people in 25 districts.
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movement of the people. exodus, more like it, if these so called janabadis continue with their ridiculous antics. i can understand some stupid, half-literate YCL type demanding donations for the party, but how is it that the pahade pundits that head the party can’t tell them ‘wait, WFP actually feeds 3.5 million janatas of this country, perhaps we should let them continue?’. or is it possible that said pahade pandits don’t actually have control of their cadre?
Where is Arthur? Respond
What if it’s not REALLY the janatas of this country that are mainly befitting from the WFP food programme, but some clever businessmen in the transport business or food production business in Nepal or other countries? There is a need for food, yes, but there must be other ways to help, ways that give a long-lasting change to the better for the people, in a susainable way? Who is looking for those ways when the money and food keep pouring in?
Neil, please do not expect me to respond to every piece of anti-Maoist gossip. I am mainly interested in analysis.
There is no source link for this item. I have not been able to find any such statement from WFP through ReliefWeb or UN Nepal Platform or WFP
Perhaps somebody said something like this. Perhaps it has some basis – presumably a general strike will affect many things including truck transport.
There have obviously been some incidents of coercive requests for donations by overenthusiastic Maoists – otherwise the party leadership would not have issued an official reminder to stop such incidents.
More interestingly both the Youth Force and Tarun Dal were mobilized recently to counter the Maoist protests and one of their tactics has been to threaten shopkeepers for donations while pretending to be YCL.
Baburam Bhatterai was recently quoted exposing this:
“Just they other day, they decided to mobilise their youths to foil the strike and retalitate our cadres. Today, we are hearing that a group of vigilantes created anarchy in New Road and Thamel by asking donation in the name of YCL.”
There have also been Maoist announcements that they are tracking down the people responsible.
Perhaps something similar is happening with fake “Maoists” demanding donations from WFP trucks.
There will be many such incidents and excited gossip in the press, always blaming the Maoists and never retracting after the reports are proved false.
There are also bound to be mistakes and excesses in any large scale mass movement and you can be sure both that the press will enthusiastically give them full coverage and that the Maoists will learn from and correct them.
Focus on who actually stands to gain from doing what and you will better understand who is actually doing what.
R N, such corruption and diversion of donor aid is very common in Nepal.
But WFP has a good reputation for actually delivering and for trying hard to help in a long term sustainable way as well as preventing people from starving in the meantime.
Check out what they actually do at this link.
Arthur, well I remember when I was working in a, at that time, remote and difficult district, that WFP were giving oil and “nutrious porridge” to the schools. Oil that could have been produced there and porridge that the families could easily have made themselves if someone had told them how to do it. It took one day a month to go and get the stuff and bring it to the schools, it took one classroom in already crowded schools to store the stuff and one teacher to prepare the porridge everyday. Maybe they have learnt since then?
as much as the janatas need food, wfp needs such programs to keep their fancy perks, un jobs and shiny suvs. one should read the article by dr aruna upreti last week on kantipur in that regard. she says wfp doesn’t recognize potatoes, fapar, kodo and such as food enough that it want to ship rice to them all. how ironic .. yet another fallout of ngo-tantra …
R N thanks for the information. I hope that WFP has learned since then. If not I am sure that when there is a Maoist led governent it will make sure they learn. In the meantime it is still better not to interfere with WFP trucks. This will only help the enemy.
Kamred Arthur- “…Coercive request…” .
Nice turn of phrase. Almost as good as , “making an offer that you cannot refuse”.
Now, where have I heard similar phrases before? Remind me.
The Mafia, perhaps??
‘the enemy’? hahaha.
Maybe we should all make coercive requests of each other to come up with a solution. All done entirely peacefully, of course.
It is interesting that the Maoists have targeted the WFP convoy. The Maoists would do well to stay on the right side of WFP. As people may have noticed, especially the astute reporters at NT, there was a significant amount of rain on the evening prior to the May Day holiday. This means that it is now time to be planting the maize. Now, if all those that the Maoists have been brought in from far and wide do not get back to their villages to plant the maize in time to take advantage of the rain then it will mean that there is no maize crop for them to harvest. Thus leading to a food shortage.
WFP- I hope you are listening and are making contingency arrangements. Don’t say you weren’t warned!!
If the Maoists have bussed in 50,000 people and assuming 2 ropanis per person that makes 100,000 ropanies or 5000 hectares. At 3 tons per hectares that is 15,ooo tons. Not a lot for WFP but I would say better to start now. Unless of course, WFP wants it to be a crisis first and then take credit for solving the crisis.